Calendar Girls – Best Book With an Active War

It’s time again for the Calendar Girls monthly blog event where we take some time to discuss our favorite books in a certain category chosen by our lovely hosts Flavia the Bibliophile and Melanie Noell Bernard. I was very out of sorts at the beginning of February and completely forgot to post, then when I came around to it I got distracted *winces* my bad. But if you are like me and are very forgetful, or you are just jumping in now, you’re welcome to join this event at any time (just click one of the lady’s links above to find out more!).

This month’s theme is Best Book with an Active War and let me tell you what, it was more difficult challenge than I thought mainly because I haven’t read any war-themed books as of late. If I am being entirely honest my pickings were extra slim since I haven’t gotten to the good bits in the Throne of Glass series yet *crying* which I assume have war themed content. I think the obvious choice here would have been ANY of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but as ashamed as I am to say this…I haven’t actually read them. I love the movies, and have read The Hobbit if that counts for anything. So for good measure here is an awesome LOTR gif because Aragorn is bae and the films are amazing.

I’m going to take some liberty here and finagle this month’s theme a bit because the book I’ve chosen is the last in a trilogy and is themed around an active political war rather an active battle/war scene which is what I think was meant for this? It’s been a few years since I’ve read this series, but my love and adoration of this author’s excellent work has not faltered!

White Rose is the third book in the romantic historical fiction time-travel trilogy based around The Wars of the Roses in 15th century England. I’m using the third book for this prompt because the first two are centered more around the romance and adventure rather than the war at hand and didn’t quite fit what I had in mind here. Although the war in these books is more politically based, there are quite a few minimal action scenes and TONS of references to the families involved and descriptions of the actions that each side has to take to make their stand throughout the process. The reasons I love and chose this book in particular were:

1. I haven’t read many other war themed books lately (shame on me, I know)
2. The author does a fantastic job of providing accurate historical information about the real Wars of the Roses while managing to weave an incredible fictional story chock full of romance, adventure, witchcraft, and modern quips.
3. Who doesn’t love the thought of knights and earls marching off into battle mounted on gorgeous steeds and fighting for their country and people’s rights to freedom?

*swooning*

Okay really though, I absolutely love historically themed novels and this is such a great one! The entire series is really, but I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone. Here’s a little tidbit about the real Wars of the Roses to help move this along and prove that I’m not all crazy in choosing this book for the theme:

The Wars of the Roses were a series of battles fought in medieval England from 1455 to 1485 between the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The name Wars of the Roses (sometimes mistakenly referred to as War of the Roses) is based on the badges used by the two sides, the red rose for the Lancastrians and the white rose for the Yorkists. – from Wars of the Roses

Instead of posting the synopsis for this book since it is the last in the trilogy, I thought I’d include the synopsis of the first book, Knight Errant, instead. If you like Diana Gabaldon (author of the Outlander series), I’d be willing to bet money that you will love these!

Robyn Stafford, a young American woman executive, has flown from Hollywood to England to surprise her lover on his birthday, only to find that he’s married and his wife’s giving the party. So she takes a few days off to recover from her outrage and dismay, traveling and hiking in England near the Welsh border. There she encounters a young man on horseback, wearing a sword, chain mail, and a surcoat, who identifies himself as Edward Plantagenet, Earl of March, and asks directions to a nearby abbey. He thinks it is the year 1459, is amazed by her working cell phone, and invites her to ride along, although at first he thought her a young boy wearing pants! Then his pursuers show up, and Edward and Robyn ride madly across the hills until he drops her off and gallops back to face his enemies. After he fights them off, he returns and invites her to come with him and be his lady. Then he rides away, into the distant past, to the age of the War of the Roses.

And so Robyn Stafford must find a way to leave the world of today for the fifteenth century, where she will fall in love with a young knight, a prince who will be king. This is the first of three books in a sweeping historical romance.

April’s theme:

Best High Fantasy

Have you read this book/series? If not, now that you know about it do you plan to read it? Are you a participant in the Calendar Girls event? Whether or not you are, please feel free to comment your thoughts and any questions you might have and I would be thrilled to chat about this post! Thanks so much for taking the time to read my blog!

Post navigation

9 thoughts on “Calendar Girls – Best Book With an Active War”

I love that you picked a historical fiction novel that is rife with political war because those are some of my favorite. I used to read a lot of historical fiction myself. They were from a variety of different locations and eras, but I loved them for the court intrigue. There were wars going on, but they were silent wars. I think sometimes those are the best kind because it’s not about brute strength, but about a game of wits! ^.^

Great choice! I may just have to check this book out now that you speak so highly of it. (P.s. Do you read any historical fiction by Philippa Gregory by any chance?)

Ahhh I absolutely LOVE the court aspect to books like these, politics that far back are really interesting to me because as you said things relied on wit, not necessarily battlefield brutality or the strength of armies! If you do check this series out, make sure to start with Knight Errant. I think the last two books were a bit duller in the thrill of the entire story line, but an appreciation for the politics and understanding the lack of combat makes it tolerable if you enjoy that ;)
I have not read anything by Philippa Gregory, but I looked her up and I absolutely need to read her books :O Especially the ones based around this time…hello book buying spree! :D <3

Hahaha! I read a couple Gregory books back in the day not even realizing they were part of a series! Each of them can be read individually, which is great! And the court intrigue is very high! I hope you enjoy them and I’ll look into Knight Errant! Thank you!

Ooooh, good choice! I have yet to read this, but I LOVE the times of the Tudors and the War of the Roses. I love how you went with something a little different – as you saw, I’m not really a big fan of books with wars in them since I keep managing not to read them – but I like how far back you took it and such a different war. It sounds very cool, and great choice! :D

Thanks Mandy! I was nervous at first but I’ve been getting great feedback so I am happy with my choice :) I too love the medieval times, it’s my period of choice when it comes to historical fiction! I haven’t read too many war-based books either, so I feel you there ‘:D

Political wars are a totally valid choice, though! It’s a war, it was called a war officially. I think we often forget that a war doesn’t always have to involve battlefields that include guns and munitions, it can be political, it can be local. For that last one, I’m thinking along the lines of crime wars in cities. It sounds like a really interesting series to boot. I’ve never read much about the War of the Roses but I’ve always wanted to!

Ah thanks! I am glad it wasn’t pushing it too far in some crazy direction, I figured a political war would count :P The series really is a great one! There is of course quite a bit of romance and much more of a story between Robyn and Edward, but the historical aspect makes it so much more interesting! Hopefully you get your hands on these someday :)
I’ve linked you in my post, I can’t wait to see what you’ve written about as well! Thanks for sharing and reading what I had to say <3